Black Hearted Evil or Brave Hearted Hero?
by LazyWriter-Kun
Summary: As a dark and mysterious vigilante with his own interpretation of justice appears, Izuku Midoryia and his friends at U.A. become witnesses to a series of events that lets them question once more what the meaning of "being a hero" is. The difference between good and evil is paper-thin sometimes. Story takes place in the MHA-universe.
1. Chapter 1 - (In)Justice

_**Before you begin...  
**_

This fic crosses the "Boku no Hero Academia" universe over with the character "Shadow" of SEGA's "Sonic the Hedgehog" universe. I "humanized" Shadow though, because that way he'll fit in much better with the rest of the protagonists.

This story takes place **before** season three of the anime and All Mights' fight against All for One.

Be aware of the fact, that I'm not a native English speaker. I'll appreciate any form of constructive critic regarding the writing style, tenses and my orthography in this story ;)!

Time to cut the chit-chat off for now. Let's get started!

Enjoy the read.

 **Chapter 01 - (In)Justice:**

\- _A dark and narrow alleyway in the city. 2.45 AM. It's raining cats and dogs. -_

"And who are you supposed to be?", asked a shady looking guys unfriendly voice in a most disrespectful manner. The person on the receiving end of his question, blocking the only way out of that alley, clicked with this tongue and replied to him in a cold tone. "None of your business", he stated. "As you won't see another day, I don't think that it'd make a lot of sense telling you my name. Cowardly low-life scum like you makes me wanna barf all over the place."

That insult flipped a switch inside the thugs' head and he instinctively reached for his loaded gun in the left pocket of his black coat. "Who the hell do you think you are!? Lots of big-mouthed assholes have gotten the 'lead treatment' from me for way less than you just said!" The thug quickly rose his left arm, taking aim for what he made out as the chest of the tall but slender figure that had just threatened him. "And I'm surely not going to make an exception for you!", he yelled as he pulled the trigger of his gun twice. The thick fog in the alleyway didn't allow him to see much, but as the tall silhouette was nowhere to be seen anymore, he was sure that he had successfully hit his target. _That'll teach him a lesson._ The criminal said to himself, relaxing his body. _At least he died without making a fuzz. What a big-mouthed shit he was. Despicable._ He further thought.

In the exact same moment, he was about to take a few more steps into the fog and checking out if the person in front of him carried any valuables, he felt an excruciating pain in his back and he screamed out in agony before a hand covered his mouth and slammed his jaw shut with an incredible force.

"Told you, you wouldn't see another day, didn't I", he heard the voice of the person he traded insults with before, say into his left ear. _I-impossible, the criminal thought, I just shot this guy! Twice! What the hell is going on here?_ The slender person could feel how the thug before him was starting to panic and breaking out in cold sweat now. He was visibly exited, but no one besides himself could see the devilish grin on his face in the fog-covered alleyway.

Now trembling and feeling like he's about to pass out any second, the thug looked down on himself as the pain got worse and worse. His eyes widened in horror, as he saw the fist and a portion of the slender ones' forearm glowing in a yellowish tone and covered in blood sticking out of the middle of his upper body. "Now you know how those victims, you shot mercilessly point-blank with a rifle some years ago felt, huh? You were starting to think that no one saw you back then and you'd never have to take responsibility for that crime, right? Disgusting.", continued the taller person in a dark and sadistic voice behind him as he was pulling his fist out of the shaking criminals' body.

The latter immediately sank to his knees, coughing up thick globs of blood, as his lungs were ruptured by the tremendous force of the punch that had hit him in the back.

As the criminal was fighting death while letting out some agonizing noises it quickly became more and more obvious that he'd either soon be taking his last breaths before he would pass out from the massive blood loss caused by the hole in his upper body or suffocate because of his ruptured lung.

The slender guy stepped in front of the almost dead low-life, put two fingers under his chin and raised his head slightly in order to let their gazes meet. His already shocked expression became a manifestation of pure terror the very instant he looked into the slender ones cold, red, glowing eyes.

 _T-those eyes are going to haunt me into the afterlife. Ugh! Is such a stare even human!?_ "The name's Shadow by the way. Guardian of all, who cannot fight for themselves. Farewell."

The criminal coughed one last time as if he was trying to reply as the slender figure passed him by, mere instants before his upper body fell flat onto the concrete. As the rain was still falling heavily, the narrow alleyway was being covered more and more in a ruby-red color.

 _\- U.A. Academy main building, the same day. 07.30 AM –_

"Deku, w-wait up!" Isuzu immediately stopped in his tracks as he heard a familiar voice rapidly approaching behind him on the hallway. He turned around and waited for the girl behind him to catch up with him before greeting her politely with a sincere smile on his face. "Oh, good morning Uraraka-kun!", he said, "I didn't expect you here so early in the morning. How comes?", the green haired boy asked, scratching the back of his head sheepishly with his right hand.

"Don't tell me you forgot?", Uraraka asked startled. She took the slight blush on Midoriyas face as a "yes" and sighed. _Strange. Usually he never forgets about such things_ , she thought. "We wanted to have a look at our tactics for today's team-training. Does that ring any bells, Deku?", the brown-haired girl asked.

Midoriya flicked his finger excitedly the instance he remembered. "Ha, knew it! Thank you. I had something bugging my mind the whole way to U.A., but I just couldn't put my finger on it anymore. Silly me. I guess I shouldn't have stayed up for so long yesterday but I really couldn't help myself and just had to analyze and take notes on Kacchan's new techniques. He never seizes to amaze me with his skills.", the curly-haired boy stated excitedly. "C'mon let's head to the forum. It should be pretty empty at this time of the day, so we'll easily find a free seat", Deku said, his smile getting bigger and bigger, "and we'll be able to catch the latest hero news!" "The forum it'll be!", the girl behind him said.

As they arrived at U.A.'s forum, they noticed that it was unusually crowded. It was not unusual at all that several 3rd year students, whose lessons begin earlier in the morning, had already gathered in there, but that the vast majority of the teachers also being there was indeed unusual. Intense muttering could be heard in the hall and the two first-year students started to wonder what it may be all about. As they were approaching Aizawa-Sensei to ask him what the big deal was, they whole crowd was abruptly silenced by principal Nezu shouting "Quiet everybody. They'll start any second!".

Uraraka and Midoriya looked at each other with a puzzled expression on their faces. What could've been so important, that even the principal himself had come here? Mere instants later, the daily news' jingle already rang in their ears. _The News? At this time of the day? Usually they won't start before 8.15 AM. What in the world has happened?_ Midoriyas muttering was interrupted by the sudden appearance of All Might next to him, the latter putting a hand on his shoulder greeting him with his usual big smile and a "thumbs up" as he clearly didn't want to speak up and upset the principal.

Uraraka, Deku and All Might shifted their attention to one of the huge flatscreens in the forum and began to listen to what the news-reporter had to say.

"Good morning everybody. We're broadcasting live from 7th Avenue where just minutes ago a wanted murderer, has been found dead by police agents in an alleyway. The killed delinquent, who had been suspected to have murdered several people mercilessly using a shotgun. Thanks to a face-changing quirk the suspect was able to fool the policy and several heroes countless times, getting away unpunished. As it seems, the suspect met his own end in a not less horrifying way than his victims did. The two police agents reported, that he sported a massive hole in his upper body and was completely blood-drenched. His guts were scattered all over the place and he had a terrified expression on his face too. Whatever he must have seen before he passed away must've been unthinkably shocking to him.

The asassin is very likely equipped with a power-magnification quirk, 'cause whoever slaughtered that man must have done so with overwhelming bare-fist power. "

The reporter stopped for a second, lowering his gaze to the ground before he returned to his original pose. "Today marks the third time in this year on which a criminal who killed his "targets" in gruesome ways, met a fate like this. It is also the third time the police found a pitch-black business-card next to the killed individual with the phrase " _Now this low-life knows how his victims must have felt. Justice has been served."_ written in red color on them. As of now, there is no sign of the Vigilante responsible for murdering the wanted criminals. All we know for now is, that he or she shows up somewhere in the city and brings criminals to wicked, untrue justice. Hugh Brabblefuzz of Channel 6, your trusted hero news broadcaster, over and out. "

In just 5 minutes, Dekus facial color had turned from a healthy shade of pink to almost paper white. He had unconsciously covered his mouth with his right hand, as he often does out of a reflex when he's shocked. This time though, he also had to prevent himself from throwing up. The footage the channel had shown a little while ago and the thought that some crazy "murderer-murder" with a very fucked-up idea of justice in his mind was still running around freely, were a lot to handle that early in the morning.

Following an exchange of gazes with a not less terrified Uraraka on his right side, he tilted his head to the left-hand side, only to realize that All-Might had already left the forum. A gut-feeling told Midoryia not to follow his mentor this time. He needed to take a few deep breaths to get grounded with both feet in reality again. The sound of a well-known voice did the rest. "L-let's have a seat, Deku. We do still need to prepare ourselves." "Oh, r-right", Midoriya said, shaking his head a few times from the left to the right, still regaining his composure, "we wanted to go over our team tactics. Sorry, I guess I got carried away a bit by that news report. Let's have a seat over there, OK?", the green-haired boy asked pointing his index finger at a comfy-looking set of chairs and a table on their right-hand side.

 _\- U.A. Academy, Teachers' Meeting Room 01, 07.50 AM –_

"Thank you all for coming in such short notice. As all of you already heard todays' news report, I guess the reason behind this gathering is self-explanatory, right?", asked a fluffy and cute looking white animal while sipping a cup of tea.

"You can bet it is, Nezu-san.", All Might replied almost instantly.

"Since you know the most about guy, I suggest that you take the lead of this meeting. Is that OK for you?"

"Works for me. I'll do my best, Nezu-san." The No.1 hero stopped for an instant in order to close the room's shades and activating the sound-insulation so not a single noise could escape the room.

"The information I'll share with you now has been entrusted to me many years ago. It has a grade-10 governmental confidentiality score, that's why **none** of it can leave this room and the reason why only the elite of U.A. teachers have been assembled here. Everyone who wishes rather not to see this information shall leave now." As expected, no one even attempted to get out of his/her chair.

"Very well. You have made your choice. I'll start the presentation now."

Yellow letters on black ground appeared on the big screen. They read "PROJECT: SHADOW"

 ** _\- End of chapter 01 -_**


	2. Chapter 2 - The Mad Genius

**Before you begin…**

Thank you very much for reading, faving and following my story and a big sorry for the long wait.

I had a blast writing this fic until now, even though it's quite challenging coming up with new content.

This chapter focuses on some background-information about our dark vigilante-hero. It may be a little less 'action packed' than the chapters who are to follow it, but I think it helps to introduce Shadows character properly.

Bakugo will finally make his appearance in the next chapter ;). Two hotheads in one city. I do already feel sorry for their surroundings (but am very much looking forward to that, hehe).

Enjoy the read!

 **Chapter 02 – The Mad Genius**

All-Might took a deep breath and a had a quick look into the faces assembled in the room.

 _Of all people, HE had to show up. As if that 'villain league' wouldn't give us enough trouble already. Gosh, he's too powerful for his own good_ , he thought. For a brief instance, one could spot his signature smile turn into a slight frown as he was pondering what to say next.

"Many years before quirks were 'a thing' in our society, a group of elite-scientists was working on the development of a so called 'ultimate live' on a geo-stationary space colony named 'Ark' near the moon on behalf of our government. A super-powered human capable of overcoming all natural limits. Stronger, faster, smarter, and immune to the effects of aging. That was the goal of Project Shadow.", the tall number one hero stated, while putting on the next slide of the presentation which displayed a photo of the projects' eight team members.

"That small, but impressive group was led by humanities most brilliant scientist; Russian Professor Piotr Rabuznik. A troubled, desperate yet incredibly inspiring man." All-Might pointed out a short, bald man with a big moustache wearing a white lab coat on the photo.

"Well, every genius, be it a mad or a sane one, has a source of inspiration that keeps him going. In our case, that source was his beloved granddaughter Maria. His 16-year old niece suffered of an incurable immune-system decease called 'NIDS', which had been weakening her since the day she was born. In order to prevent an early demise, her parents sent her to live with her grandpa at the age of 14. When Project Shadow began, she had been living with him on the space colony for two years. The sterile atmosphere up there did its part to keep her decease 'in check' while the professor was conducting his research for a cure. Initially, the bright Russian scientist wanted nothing to do with Project Shadow. In his opinion, humanity tried to push its boundaries way too far this time. An ageless being, or worse, a whole army of those beings might create problems on an unimaginable scale."

Toshinori-san interrupted his speech for an instant in order to let the information sink in. A mix of suspense and worry was creeping up. Not a single noise could be heard in the room.

Suddenly, a loud slurping noise broke the silence and all eyes were instantly on Nezu-san. Whenever U.A.'s principal took a deep sip out of his cup of tea, he was about to speak up. It was a kind of secret signal and whoever was speaking when he did that, would stop immediately out of respect.

"As people are still getting sick and most of the heroes in this room have never heard of that Professor before, I guess that story won't end on a happy note, right?", he asked in his usual composed and friendly manner.

"No. Not at all, Nezu-san. Fate truly is a cold-hearted beast sometimes.", the symbol of peace replied with a hint of sadness in his voice and on his face.

"Only a few weeks after his initial refusal to participate in the project, the medical condition of his granddaughter started changing for the worse. The Professor quickly realized, even if his granddaughter kept up her composure very well towards the people surrounding her, that if her illness would 'keep going' at that rate, not even the sterile atmosphere onboard the 'Ark' would eventually be able to prevent her being infected and eventually killed by the bacteria on her very own skin. That horrible realization caused him countless sleepless nights. Suddenly, he became one of Project Shadows' biggest promoters and begun convincing himself and his crew that it was a good thing. Maybe even the best thing ever happened to humanity. 'The key to a better tomorrow', so he said. All of a sudden, Professor Rabuznik was a **hundred percent confident** , that there **was** a way of harnessing the DNA of that 'super human' in order to create a drug that would be able to heal just about anything. And who'd be better suited than himself to unlock that secret?"

"Did he loose it after that?", Class 1-A's teacher asked straightforward.

"No, not yet, Aizawa-san. Despite the fact that he and a few of his team-members worked in nigh maniacal manner on the 'ultimate live', his journals and the project-records don't give off even a single hint of insanity. On the contrary; a few weeks after the 'birth' of his 'son' Shadow he described himself as a happy 'space-dad'. Whatever that meant. His creation and Maria got along very well and even seemed to have a positive effect on her mind. That made him quite sure he'd done the right thing. Adding the quick progress, he and his team were making in finding the 'universal-cure', he actually felt better than ever before."

All-Might quickly shuffled trough some more slides, showing some photos of the team's research, along with a few pictures of Shadow and Maria.

"Hold it for a second! **_That's_** our guy? Doesn't look like much, if you ask me." Class 1-As Homeroom-teacher asked with suspicion, pointing his finger a good-looking and slightly tan young male on the photo that was currently being shown on the screen.

All-Might nodded his head in approval. "Yes, that's him."

"Hum. Despite being a homicidal maniac, he doesn't look the part at all. Why the odd name by the way? Endowing him with the projects' name doesn't seem like a rational choice at all, unless there is a way deeper thought behind it, of course."

Aizawa-san's curiosity had been triggered. Despite the fact that he seemed very dangerous, he was really looking forward to meeting their new "enemy".

"Haven't figured that one myself yet. Maybe it's just a codename of sorts, who knows? Let's go on now, OK?"

Since no one spoke up, Toshinori-san took it as a 'yes' and went on.

"And now I'll tell you where the tale of 'Project Shadow' gets kind of awkward and disturbing."

All-Might went through the last two slides of his presentation. One displayed a phone of an old newspaper whose headline read ' _Mad Professor and research-crew punished for terrible genetic experiments on human beings_ ', along with a picture of a handcuffed Professor Rabuznik behind bars. The second one showed a photo of a classified mission report written by the military, containing information never released to the public.

"This is the point in time when tragedy struck. All of a sudden, the military officials had a change of heart and decided over night that the research on space-colony Ark was too dangerous and had to be ceased immediately. The reason behind all that fuzz was an unfounded rumor that had started spreading a few months ago. The person who came up with that false claim wanted the military to believe, that the Professor was in the process of creating a private-army, composed entirely of bio-engineered humans with whom he wanted to enslave Japan and claim it for the Sowjets. The decisions were made very swiftly, as our leaders didn't want to take any risks and panic began to spread among the officials. On one day, the government agreed on shutting down the colony, the next day they were already up there and raided the place."

The other heroes looked at All-Might in disbelieve. What he was telling them sounded like something right out of a cheesy cold-war spy novel. The world truly was a strange place.

"According to the mission report", the buff superhero put up the slide with the report again, "everyone who didn't comply immediately was executed on the spot. To justify that, they charged all researchers on the Ark with the crime of 'treachery towards the human race' beforehand. Needless to say, that someone guilty of that particular crime was to receive the death-penalty without a proper trial. As it seems, the only reason why the Professor wasn't killed by the armed forces during the raid, was to defame him and his work and having him suffer through all of it. His reputation was ruined for good. If that wouldn't have been enough on its own, he apprehended in jail that his beloved granddaughter Maria had been killed too and his 'son' Shadow had been locked away in a secret place after escaping from the colony."

Toshinori-san took a few steps towards Aizawa-san and then knelt down in order to meet his eyes.

" **That** was when he lost it. His whole world and all he ever believed in was destroyed in only two days' time. The Professor went mad, his thoughts were intoxicated by darkness. The only thing he was still able to think of was revenge, revenge on all humanity. Those ungrateful beings who took everything from him were to suffer in the same way he had to. They should all damn themselves to hell!"

All-Might brought his body back into an upright position and took a deep breath, creating a bit of tension. "And he almost succeeded. During his 30-day imprisonment on Prison Island, he built a device that allowed him to transmit code to the mainframe computer aboard the Ark. His plan was to crash it into earth, annihilating planet earth."

"So, it **was** that strange comet incident 15 years ago after all.", Nezu-san called out all of a sudden, interrupting All-Might. "And I presume it was back then, when you first met the Professors 'son', right?"

"H-how did y-you?", Toshinori stuttered, looking at Nezu-san with a perplexed expression on his face.

"It actually very simple. That 'comet' had never been sighted before and wasn't present on any astronomical map I've ever looked at. I was never able to figure out where it came from in the first place. But that's not all yet. I recall you stating that the object 'disappeared in a flash of light' and no one knew how that'd been possible. In the end, you guys had decided to 'call it a day' and were grateful that nothing worse happened."

U.A.'s principal took another sip out of his teacup. His tea seemed to taste even better every time when he was 'reading' other people's thoughts and minds like an open book. Every time he did that it felt like a little victory over the human race to him.

"But…", Nezu-san created some suspense pausing for a moment, "I could never forget the particular look on you had on your face that day. You looked like a little boy who had just seen something so awesome that he wouldn't forget it for weeks. An expression similar to kids standing in front of a Christmas tree. Your usual broad smile seemed even bigger after you returned."

"Your mind is amazing, Nezu-san. It's true. Every little bit of it." All-Might's expression changed into the one Nezu-san had mentioned before, as he remembered the vigilante-hero.

"It was like watching a well-oiled machine fight. Quick as lightning, strong as a tank. Our guy took down a bunch of mechs who were trying to protect the falling space colony from us heroes all by himself. The instance he spotted them trying to harm innocent bystanders, there was no holding him back. He literally smashed those things to rubble. We did our very best too and threw our strongest attacks at the object from outer-space, trying to slow it down as much as we possibly could. Even though most of us knew we didn't stand a chance, the 'call of duty' and our sense of honor kept us going. We just couldn't give up unless we had tried it all. If we were to go down, we'd put up a decent fight first. Then, out of nowhere once again…", the blonde No.1 hero rose a fist and stuck a dramatic pose, "he came to our aid. Engulfed in a golden light, floating above the buildings, looking like humanities guardian in that particular moment. He gave us a 'thumbs up' and told us that 'our work was done now' before flying straight up to the colony. Seconds later it was gone in the aforementioned flash of light. Just like that. Pretty anti-climactic if you ask me.", Toshinori stated, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"H-hold on a sec, Toshinori-san!", Present Mic shouted. "You're telling us, that his quirk allows him to fly **and** create warp-holes, aren't ya?"

"At least it seemed very much like that to me, Present Mic, though I am not completely sure. Judging from what I saw, I'd draw the same conclusion. Unfortunately, there is zero footage of that day, because the 'comet' caused heavy electro-magnetic interferences. The fact, that that guys is on a killing streak is kind of grinding my gears though. I was convinced he was on our side. Well, guess it can't be helped. Bummer."

"What are we going to tell our Students, All-Might? You can imagine yourself, that rumors about the identity of that guy will soon start to spread. And it's not like he seems trying to evade attention at all cost either."

"That we're still investigating, Aizawa-san. As long as we don't know what he's up to for sure, that's not even a lie. I'd recommend not to draw his attention towards us or any of our students. The incident at the sport festival has done enough damage already. That's why I want you all to be extra-vigilant during class. If the Professors' creation decides to target our school, he mustn't cause any harm to our beloved students!"

"Hm. A good choice, Toshinori-san. Doing so will avoid panic. At least for now.", Eraserhead commented, while nodding in approval.

"Well then, it's 8:20AM. Let's get into our classrooms, we have only ten minutes before class starts. This meeting is over. Thank you all for listening. And remember: Not a single word about Shadow is allowed to leave this room yet!"

The present heroes hastily collected their stuff and left the meeting room, doing as All-Might told them. After everyone except for Toshinori and principal Nezu had walked out, the latter spoke up.

"You're going to stop him by yourself, right?", the white furry one said. "You had your trademark 'I'll carry the world on my shoulders' look on your face again, when you told Aizawa-san to protect the students."

"Yes. My time will soon be over, that's why I must use any minute to uphold peace. No time can be wasted!", the blonde No.1 hero replied to Nezu in a determined manner.

"I see. But even under those circumstances, you mustn't act thoughtlessly. You haven't met that guy in long time. For whatever reason, my gut-feeling is telling me, that what you saw 15 years ago was only the tip of the iceberg.", U.A.'s principal concluded.

"I know. That's what makes me even more uneasy about our situation, Nezu-san. Still, I rest my case: I cannot stand by idly, waiting for something to happen. I have to act, it's now or never."

Toshinori clenched his fists and gritted his teeth before his buff body began to deflate and he slowly returned to his normal non-hero form.

 ** _-End of chapter 02-_**


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